Scientific research has shown that the procreational intentions and the actual number of children born may not coincide (Lutz 2020; Stankūnienė et al 2013; Testa 2013). Although the most common ideal ...number of children in European Union is two, not a single country has the total fertility rate of two (Beaujoun ir Sobotka 2014). The aim of current research is, first, to ascertain what procreational desires people have and, second, to shed some light on possible factors that influence the realization of those procreational desires. Three focus group discussions were conducted with parents 26 – 44 years of age (ten participants in total).
It was found out that the procreational desires are not static and early determined: they change depending on the circumstances of the family creation, self-realisation in one‘s occupation and the reconciliation of the procreational desires of the partners. In accordance to other studies on the topic of procreational desires and their fulfillment, the results of this study demonstrate that the common obstacles that arise while trying to realize one‘s procreational desires are of social, financial and medical nature. Also, the results show that state support for families may have an impact on the number of children a family has if the family has been enduring some financial difficulties.
Foreign scholars highlight that despite the modernization of social life, cultural attitudes towards thefamily are changing slowly, and women remain closely tied to the role of motherhood (McKennon ...Brody, Frey,2017). The media has the power to reflect on and change the attittudes prevailing in society, thereby reducing the stigmatizing ones. Researchers discover the domination of pronatal discourse by analyzing images of childlessness, which supports parenthood in many ways, and individuals, especially women, who do not raise children and are underestimated and often stigmatized (Gibb, 2019; Grill, 2019). In order to understand the current cultural attitudes towards childless women and to analyze changes in comparison to other countries, it is important to examine them from a historical perspective.The representation of childlessness in Lithuanian media during the last decades of the 20th century was not studied yet. The scholars (Marcinkevičienė, Praspaliauskienė, 1999; Maslauskaitė 2001; 2002) who had analyzed Lithuanian women’s magazines during the late Soviet period and after the Independence in 1990 focused mainly on the representations of familial and romantic relationships. This research, based on a qualitative content analysis of 224 articles from the most popular women’s magazines of 1991–1996, showed that sex education and abortion prevention were the prevailing topics covering the lack of public knowledge about reproductive and sexual health. The aim of the media was to consolidate motherhood as the main expression of femininity within the framewok of declining birth rates; therefore, infertility and voluntary childlessness were stigmatized.
Domestic violence is perceived as one of the most severe violations of human rights and gender inequality. It has negative psychological, social and economic impact on the victim. In seeking to ...combat violence of an intimate partner, laws against domestic violence were implemented in many European countries. Two countries, Lithuania and Georgia, are compared in the article. Even if they have different locations and patriarchal traditions, the common past of belonging to Soviet Union unites them.The article compares the political measures and their impact on the solution of the domestic violence problem. Even the laws criminalizing domestic violence were implemented in 2006 in Georgia and in 2011 in Lithuania. The problem of domestic violence remains a top issue in both countries. The amount of reported domestic violence events maintains a high level; however, the investigated cases level remains low. Still, a high level of unreported domestic violence cases remain in both countries. Insufficient shelters for women victims of violence remain a problem in both countries.
C. Benoit et al. (2018) distinguish three models of social policy that reveal different approaches to prostitution: repressive (prohibiting prostitution), regulating and integrating (decriminalizing ...prostitution). In Lithuania, a repressive model of social policy is applied in prostitution – both the client and the person providing sexual services are fined. Currently, active social campaigns are underway to apply the Nordic (or Equality) model in prostitution in Lithuania: only the client who buys sexual services would be committing a crime and therefore fined. Although adapting the Nordic model would reduce women’s administrative criminality in female prostitution, the authors consider, based on a case study and the experience of other countries, whether focusing on repressive social policy legislations will address the stigma and isolation that hinder the integration and empowerment of women.
•Evidence-based standards are used to characterize 193 family support programmes across Europe.•Programmes' characteristics are used for an analytic comparison of their diversity.•A three-typology of ...family support programmes supports the differentiation of the targeted population.•Evidence-based programme formulation provides a practical roadmap for family support.
The importance of using evidence-based programmes to ensure children’s rights and families’ wellbeing is increasingly recognized in Europe. However, there are few and partial attempts to gain insight into the scope of prevention and promotion programmes currently implemented in child and family services across Europe, often located outside the formal peer-reviewed channels. The objectives of this study are empirically examining the diversity of family support programmes delivered and the extent to which they meet evidence-based standards for programme formulation and provide a picture of the typologies according to programme descriptors, operational aspects and implementation components. The Family Support Programmes' Survey was used to identify existing programmes addressing family support in participating countries. The sample includes 193 support programmes from 17 European countries, members of the European Family Support Network corresponding to three regions of Europe (Northern, Southern and Central-Eastern). The comparative survey was conducted using the Data Collection Sheet to gather information about program characteristics. Descriptive and cluster analyses were carried out. Results show that a large number of programmes fulfil evidence-based standards for programme formulation, such as clearly defined theoretical framework, manualization, and methodology components. In addition, three cluster profiles of programme formulation components were determined corresponding to the three European regions. Implications for research and practice on the development of family support programmes according to evidence-based standards for programme formulation are discussed.
Užsienio mokslininkai pastebi, kad, nepaisant visuomeninio gyvenimo modernėjimo, kultūrinės nuostatos šeimos atžvilgiu keičiasi lėtai, o moterys išlieka glaudžiai susietos su motinystės vaidmeniu ...(McKennon Brody, Frey, 2017). Žiniasklaida turi galią reflektuoti visuomenėje vyraujančias nuostatas ir kartu jas keisti, taip mažindama visuomenės grupių stigmatizavimą. Nagrinėdami bevaikystės vaizdinius žiniasklaidoje, tyrėjai atranda pronatalinio diskurso dominavimą, kai visokeriopai remiama motinystė / tėvystė, o asmenys, ypač moterys, nesusilaukusios vaikų, vertinamos menkiau ir neretai yra stigmatizuojamos (Gibb, 2019; Grill, 2019). Tam, kad suprastume šiuo metu vyraujančias kultūrines nuostatas bevaikių moterų atžvilgiu ir galėtume analizuoti pokyčius lygindami su užsienio šalimis, svarbu turėti atskaitos tašką ir nagrinėti jas iš istorinės perspektyvos. Bevaikystės vaizdavimas Lietuvos žiniasklaidoje XX a. pabaigoje iki šiol nebuvo tyrinėtas. Mokslininkės (Marcinkevičienė, Praspaliauskienė, 1999; Maslauskaitė, 2001; 2002), nagrinėjusios vėlyvojo sovietmečio ir Nepriklausomybės atgavimo laikotarpio moterų žurnalus, daugiausiai dėmesio skyrė romantinių ir šeiminių santykių visuomenėje pokyčiams ir jų vaizdavimui žiniasklaidoje. Atlikus 224 straipsnių bevaikystės ir susijusiomis temomis iš 1991–1996 m. laikotarpio populiariausių moterų žurnalų ir savaitraščių kokybinę turinio analizę paaiškėjo, kad tuo laikotarpiu daugiausiai dėmesio skirta lytinio švietimo ir abortų prevencijos temoms, siekiant užpildyti moterų neišprusimo lytinės sveikatos srityje spragą. Gimstamumo mažėjimo fone motinystę siekta įtvirtinti kaip svarbiausią moteriškumo raišką, o nevaisingumas ir savanoriška bevaikystė buvo stigmatizuojami.
Homoseksualių, biseksualių asmenų ketinimai ir teisės kurti šeimą ir auginti vaikus – visuomenės diskusijų objektas. Kokių lūkesčių ir privataus gyvenimo ketinimų turi jauni netradicinės seksualinės ...orientacijos vyrai Lietuvoje, nėra tyrinėta. Šiame straipsnyje atskleidžiama netradicinės seksualinės orientacijos jaunų vyrų prokreacinių lūkesčių turinys, raiška ir juos formuojantys veiksniai pasitelkiant kokybinį tyrimą, dešimt interviu su 21–30 metų homoseksualiais, biseksualiais vyrais. Tyrimas parodė, kad netradicinės seksualinės orientacijos jauni vyrai savo tapatumo tiesiogiai nesieja su vaikų turėjimu, emocinė jų gerovė kuriama per ilgalaikius santykius. Vaikų turėjimas yra daugiau politinis pareiškimas, susijęs su tyrimo dalyvių atsiskleidimo artimai aplinkai patirtimi. Labiausiai atsiskleidę tyrimo dalyviai laisviau aptaria asmeninio gyvenimo scenarijus. Jie yra linkę priešintis neigiamoms visuomenės nuostatoms, laukdami, kol Lietuvoje įsigalios partnerystės įstatymas, leisiantis įteisinti savo gyvenimą drauge su partneriu, ir galvoja apie įsivaikinimo galimybes. O neatsiskleidę artimoje aplinkoje ar sulaukę neigiamos reakcijos tyrimo dalyviai renkasi įvairias laviravimo visuomenėje strategijas, svarsto vaikų turėjimo galimybes su moterimi arba atsisako ketinimų artimoje ateityje susilaukti vaikų.
Although homosexual and bisexual men’s intentions and rights to form a family and raise children are still an object of public debate, this topic has not been previously studied in Lithuania. Using a qualitative research – 10 semi-structured interviews with 21–30-year-old homosexual and bisexual men – the article focuses on the content and expression of their procreational intentions and discusses social factors that model them. The results of the research indicate that young homosexual and bisexual men do not draw direct associations between their identity and having children and that they develop their emotional wellbeing through projected long-term relationships. Furthermore, their intention to have children is a merely political statement related to self-disclosure in their immediate environment. The research participants who had disclosed their sexual orientation discussed their future life scenarios in a more open and free way. They tended to resist the negative public opinion towards homosexual and bisexual persons in Lithuania and expected the Partnership Act that would allow them to legalize their cohabitation and consider children adoption possibilities to come into full force in the country. On the other hand, the research participants who hid their sexual orientation in their immediate environment considered various adaptation strategies including the possibility of having children with a woman or abandoning their intention to have children in the near future altogether.
This paper focuses on childless women reflections of their current status. During the qualitative research (2017–2018), 44 interviews have been completed with 28–71 year old women without children. ...Based on the positioning theory (Harré et al. 2009; Allen, Wiles 2013), the paper reveals how childlessness is being positioned on different levels: personal, interpersonal and cultural. The individualistic values – freedom from the burden, taking care of oneself, recognizing responsibility to raise children – were revealed on the personal level. On the interpersonal level, women of reproductive age expressed positions that were agreed upon with their partners or stated how difficult it is to reach the agreement. Meanwhile, the narratives of women from older generations reveal inert life scenarios. The cultural norms to have children in marriage had a strong influence on both women groups, who were in their reproductive age and who have finished their reproductive career.
Straipsnyje analizuojamos moterų refleksijos apie jų dabartinį bevaikystės statusą. Kokybinio tyrimo metu 2017-2018 m. atlikti 44 interviu su 28-71 metų moterimis, neturinčiomis vaikų. Remiantis ...pozicionavimo teorija (Harré et al. 2009; Allen, Wiles 2013), atskleidžiama, kaip vaikų neturėjimas pozicionuojamas asmeniniu, tarpasmeniniu ir kultūriniu lygmenimis. Asmeniniu lygmeniu išryškėjo moterų individualios vertybės - laisvė nuo rūpesčių, rūpinimasis savimi, vaikų auginimo atsakomybės įvertinimas. Tarpasmeniniu - reprodukcinio amžiaus moterys išreiškė su partneriais suderintas pozicijas ar sunkumus jas derinti, o vyresnės kartos moterų naratyvai atskleidžia inertiškesnius gyvenimo scenarijus. Kultūrinės normos susilaukti vaikų santuokoje stipriai veikė tiek reprodukcinį amžių baigusias, tiek jaunesnes moteris.
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